Thursday, March 25, 2010

A busy week plus Hollywood!

I have plenty of excuses why it has taken me so long to write another blog, but who wants to hear that? Excuse grammer and style, but this is quick!

March 8-14 was a pretty interesting week. On Monday I traveled late and arrived in Seattle just after midnight on a plane from Maui - don't feel sorry for me. That trip was all fun! I played golf 4 days in a row with a great group of business partners at some of my favorite courses: the Wailea courses and the King Kamehameha Golf Club.

Flying coach for 6 hours does take its toll on an old 6'10" body though and I was very happy that I had an aisle seat, baggage claim did not take long and the Masterpark shuttle was quick as always!

The next morning I left the office early to drive down to Portland where Coldstream hosted a forum for our clients and contacts with one of our strategic partners from the east coast - Strategas Research Partners. Dan Clifton did an amazing job sharing his thoughts and insight on the current happenings in our nation’s capital including policy changes the administration is proposing to deal with the deficit. It could not have been more timely with a vote on the health care reform coming up.

That night I stopped by the Portland Trailblazer vs. Sacramento Kings game to say hello to some friends. I talked to Coach Nate McMillen for a while and checked up on my Huskies Jon Brockman and Spencer Hawes! After driving home for 3 hours midnight was once again just around the corner.

The next day we hosted the same event with Strategas for our contacts up in the Seattle market and I left right after to pick up my wife to go to the airport. We made it in time to catch our flight to LA where I was going to be part of a TV show. It made it three nights in a row when my head hit the pillow at 12:30 AM.

A week prior our foundation was contacted by an agent to see if I had any interest to do a taping for Parks & Recreation, a pretty entertaining NBC mockumentary that looks at the exciting world of local government. http://www.nbc.com/parks-and-recreation

We would be able to get our foundation name and logo out there and all I had to do was play myself. Easier said than done, but our foundation board emphazised getting some incredible (and free) exposure we hope to capitalize on! Hey it's all for the kids!

We were supposed to film for 2 days, but the next morning I was informed that Thursday would only be "Wardrobe" day. We went in to meet the producers/directors and try on some clothes. I was under the impression that I would be wearing a suit, since the episode was about a telethon to which I was bringing a check. They decided on jeans and a polo shirt - comfy, but definitely not stylish.

Good news was that the free time allowed us to go to the PAC 10 basketball tournament and watch UCLA play and later on the UW Huskies. UCLA finished their season much better than they started, but definitely had a down year. The Dawgs on the other hand are peaking and have a chance to make it to Indy!

Friday was the day of work. I got up to get to the studio at 8 AM for wardrobe and make-up (my wife caught a flight to Cabo for a girls' trip). We then took a van to a nightclub in Hollywood where some parts of the show were filmed. We spent a few hours there and the rest was filmed in the studio. I was partnered with Aziz Ansari for most of the day and we had some funny moments.

I had done some commercials (all sports related) and some PSA's over the years, but never a TV show, and a comedy on top of it. We had a script, but hardly anybody followed it. There was a lot of downtime, sitting around and waiting on the next set-up. People occupied themselves with a laptop, texting or tweeting. A very interesting environment, but everyone was extremely nice and funny!

Be kind when you do see the episode since I am a hack and since Aziz was acting up in that segment I was told to act bored and annoyed most of the time. My wife said that shouldn't be tough for me - was that meant as a compliment?

Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones were very friendly, but we had only one scene together. We talked a little bit and I hope to get them out to our fundraiser this year (reminder to check with Doug - production manager!). They occupied themselves during set-up changes by talking to each other and being funny. To be an extras on a set is a whole other thing. They must hang all day for just a chance to get into a shot. They sit around and some of them get to be right in the middle of the action while others never make it even close to the camera. I was told by a few of them that they do it 3 days a week! Wonder how much they make?

After a 14 hour day all I wanted to do is go back to the hotel and crash. I flew home Saturday morning and went to the Seattle Dancing with the Stars fundraiser that night, where our good friend Steve Goldfarb competed to raise money for the Plymouth Homeless Shelter. It turned out to be a well attended and fun event with some of our Seattle amateurs paired up with the pros! After a quick stop at Dick’s Hamburgers I arrived home again close to that witching hour!

To finish the week I got up at 6:30 AM (with the time change) to go downtown Seattle to attend the St. Patty’s Day Dash! Our foundation was the beneficiary of the run - 15,000 people ran, jogged, walked and crawled the 4 mile loop on a beautiful morning to end up in our beer tend where I poured beer for 2 hours. My first run in a couple weeks was not very successful. I made it half-way before I pulled my calf (again). Not fun getting old and out of shape, but it allowed me to walk back and take a few pictures!

As you may have guessed I went home afterwards and crashed on the couch for the rest of the day!